Chapter 16: The Burn Barrel

I went down the back stairs in Theo's sweater and my bare feet, and he came after me with his boots unlaced.

The grass was wet and cold.

The fire in the barrel gave off a thin orange light that reached Dad's face and stopped at his collar.

"Dad."

He did not jump.

He turned his head slowly and looked at me, and then at Theo.

"Good morning," he said. "I trust you slept."

"What are you burning?"

"Kindling."

He lifted the last piece out of the dark on the grass beside him.

It was a thin pine board, the size of a placemat, with brown paper glued over one side.

Even from where I stood I could see the slanting ink on the paper.

It was the back of the framed card.

My grandfather's addendum.

"You told me it was with your lawyer," I said.

"I told you what you needed to hear tonight." He smiled. "A man in my position is allowed to change his mind."

"It's filed with the state, Dad. Burning that doesn't change anything."

"It changes who can say they've seen it."

He held the board over the flames.

I ran.

I was three steps away when someone shoved past me, hard, and I nearly went down in the wet grass.

It was Cal.

He had come out of the kitchen door in his socks.

He did not say a word.

He reached into the barrel with both bare hands and pulled the board out of the fire.

The brown paper had caught along one edge, and he slapped it against his chest and dropped it on the lawn and stamped.

"Calvin!" Dad shouted. "Calvin, what in God's name!"

"It's Grandpa's handwriting," Cal said.

He was shaking, and his palms were red.

Keep reading free with an account. Start They Vetoed My Wedding 5 Times I Vetoed Them for Life from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.